Trees for Troops continues to grow

Monday

Nov 26, 2007 at 12:01 AMNov 26, 2007 at 3:35 AM

Fifty fragrant fir trees loaded onto a truck this past Wednesday will bring holiday cheer to military families and troops.

Julie Sherwood

Sean Nolan, a 1991 Canandaigua Academy graduate, doesn’t know exactly where he’ll be a year from now. But with a January deployment to Afghanistan expected, it probably won’t be at his Henrietta home or with friends and family from his native Ontario County.

Nolan, a supply specialist with the National Guard, didn’t dwell on his anticipated overseas tour last Wednesday as he hoisted freshly cut Fraser firs onto a big truck with fellow guardsmen Wayne Simmons of Rochester and Dan Churchill of Albany.

Instead, the men facing a year’s deployment shared laughs and hot coffee and received a load of well wishes from Dick and Mary Ellen Darling, state chairpersons for a program that gets Christmas trees to troops and their families.

The guardsmen loaded about 50 trees onto the back of a truck at the Darling’s Tree Farm on County Road 23. Some of the trees were donated by the Darlings, some were donated by other tree farmers in the region — including Pinewood Road and Brickle’s Tree farms in Phelps, Holmes Hollow Farm in Victor, Van Hooft’s Wreaths and Trees of Clifton Springs and Georgia’s Tree Farm in Prattsburgh.

Nolan and his fellow guardsmen were assigned the duty of delivering the trees to Stokoe Farm in Scottsville, one of several collection points across the state for Trees for Troops. FedEx has volunteered to take the trees on the remaining leg of the trip, to Fort Drum in Jefferson County.

When Trees for Troops was started in 2005, 4,000 trees collected nationwide were sent to troops and military families in the U.S. and overseas. Last year, the number grew to 11,000. This year, some 17,000 are expected to be shipped out, with 800 of those collected in New York state and sent to Fort Drum.

The Darlings said they got involved in the project after a local serviceman, 25-year-old Army Sgt. Jonathan Lootens of Lyons, was killed in Iraq Oct. 15, 2006. The loss hit home.

“That sparked us to get going,” Dick Darling said.

In addition to donating trees, the Darlings enclose notes wishing the recipients a blessed holiday and thanking them for their service.

The Darlings are seeking similar cards and notes from the community, which they will ship out. Donations are also being accepted to help defray the cost of sending additional trees to troops overseas.

Trees for Troops “is a good cause,” Nolan said. “It’s a great way to say thanks.”

To donate Trees for Troops, contact the Darlings at (315) 548-3419 or e-mail richmary@fltg.net.

Julie Sherwood can be reached at (585) 394-0770, Ext. 263, or at jsherwood@mpnewspapers.com.